The present invention relates to tailgate attachments for pickup trucks and more particularly, the present invention pertains to a tailgate attachment and accessories to retain ramp members and other articles to the tailgate of a pickup truck.
Portable ramps are commonly used for loading a garden tractor, a snowmobile, an all-terrain vehicle and equipment of the like into the box of a pickup tuck. The upper ends of the ramp boards are generally secured to the tailgate of the pickup truck to prevent accidents that can be caused by the slipping of a ramp board when equipment is being moved in or out of the truck box.
Pickup trucks are also used to carry materials of all sorts and shapes and often slender objects that are longer than the truck box. These long objects are generally laid against the edge of the closed tailgate and extend at the back of the truck box. These objects are susceptible of sliding from side to side when the truck is driving along and therefore they must be secured to the truck box whenever possible to avoid damaging the truck box or losing the objects along a roadway.
In other more casual applications, pickup trucks are used to carry bags containing groceries or other household articles and supplies. Ideally, these bags must be secured to the truck box to avoid moving about in response to the truck""s movements and scattering the content of the bags inside the truck box.
Accordingly, it should be appreciated that there are advantages in providing tailgate attachments and accessories that can be used in various ways and purposes related to the utility of a pickup truck.
The tailgate attachments of the prior art are generally made for a single purpose, that is for holding one or more ramp members to the tailgate. When the ramp members are not used, the tailgate attachments are either carried loose inside the truck box or stowed away with the ramp members. Similarly, other tailgate ramp attachments available commercially are mounted permanently to the tailgate and do not enhance the practicability of the tailgate when the ramp members are not used.
Examples of tailgate ramp systems of the prior art are illustrated and described in the following documents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,510,015 issued on May 5, 1970 to Harold L. Roshaven. This ramp system comprises a pair of ramp members having hooks on their upper ends, and a pair of support members having U-shaped straps for retaining the hooks of the ramp members. The support members are clamped onto the tailgate by transversely encircling a major portion of the tailgate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,440 issued on Sep. 4, 1973 to joint inventors Gerald G. Raap and Donald F. Kutz describes a pair of ramp members which are pivotally connected to a round bar. The round bar is permanently affixed to the upper edge of the tailgate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,838 issued on Dec. 5, 1989 to Frank W. Slater describes another ramp member attached to an elongated cap covering the upper edge of a tailgate. The cap is permanently fastened to the upper edge of the tailgate with screws.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,360 issued on May 8, 1990 to Phillippe J. Beauchemin illustrates a collapsible tailgate ramp which has an upper end pivotally connected to the upper edge of a tailgate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,465 issued on Oct., 26, 1999 to Michael Ives et al. discloses a C-shaped angle iron which extends over the edge of a tailgate and is secured to the latch bolts of the tailgate. The angle iron has a round bar affixed to it to retain the ends of ramp members.
A last example of a portable tailgate ramp of the prior art is illustrated in Canadian Patent 1,071,811 issued on Feb. 19, 1980 to Lucien Leduc. The ramp described in this document has a pair of pins extending from an upper end thereof. These pins are engaged in corresponding holes through the tailgate.
Although the tailgate accessories of the prior art deserve undeniable merits and each constitutes an advance in the science of a specific field, it is believed that there continues to be a need for a better tailgate attachment and related accessories which can be used in a variety of ways and purposes to enhance the utility of a pickup truck.
In the present invention, however, there are provided a tailgate attachment and load locking accessories, referred to hereinafter as the tailgate attachment set, for retaining ramp members to a tailgate in a horizontal position and for retaining various objects to a tailgate in a horizontal or vertical position.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elongated anchor rail for installation on an edge of a tailgate for retaining a tailgate accessory to the tailgate. The anchor rail has a flange portion with a flat surface for partly covering an inside surface of a tailgate. The flange portion has longitudinal inside and outside edges. The anchor rail also has a channel portion projecting at right angle from the flange portion. The channel portion is at a distance from the outside edge and forms with the flange portion a recessed seat adjacent the outside edge. The channel portion further has a T-slot in the recessed seat facing toward the outside edge. When a tailgate accessory is mounted to the T-slot of the anchor rail, it is partly or completely included in the recessed seat.
The use of the anchor rail comprised in the tailgate attachment set according to the present invention is advantageous in many ways, and especially because one or more tailgate accessories can be mounted to, and left on the anchor rail between uses without hindering the function of the tailgate for various other purposes.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, the anchor rail has a lip portion along the outside edge for covering an edge of a tailgate, and a web joining the upper edge of the channel portion and the inside edge. The channel portion and the lip portion extend at least about one inch from opposite sides of the flange portion, thereby providing the anchor rail with a substantial moment of inertia relative to the tailgate. When the anchor rail is installed on a tailgate, it stiffens the tailgate and prevents the edge of the tailgate from being damaged from a firm handling of objects in and out of the pickup truck.
Furthermore, the web forms an angle of about 142xc2x0 with the flange portion. The anchor rail is therefore usable as a wheel chuck to prevent a wheeled vehicle from inadvertently rolling off the tailgate.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pair of ramp members with ramp ends engaged in the T-slot of the anchor rail. Each of the ramp ends has a hook lip loosely engaged in the T-slot and a square edge supported in the recessed seat. The weight of an equipment moving on the ramp members is transmitted to the tailgate through the square edge and the recessed seat without applying any bending stress on the hook lip.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a number of lugs are mounted to the T-slot of the anchor rail and are usable to secure elongated objects to the edge of a tailgate. The lugs are included in the recessed seat and are selectively left on the anchor rail during the use of other tailgate accessories.
In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided one or more hook members engaged in the T-slot and extending over the anchor rail for retaining one or more bags to a tailgate in a vertical position.
In accordance with yet a further aspect of the tailgate ramp attachment set according to the present invention, the components thereof are manufacturable by an extrusion process at a reasonable cost, thereby making such tailgate attachment set economically available to the public.